IRAQ: THOUSANDS OF MOURNERS ATTEND FUNERAL FOR SHI'ITE LEADER AL-HAKIM, KILLED BY CAR BOMB ATTACK IN NAJAF.

Record ID: 647295

  • Title: IRAQ: THOUSANDS OF MOURNERS ATTEND FUNERAL FOR SHI'ITE LEADER AL-HAKIM, KILLED BY CAR BOMB ATTACK IN NAJAF.
  • Date: 1st September 2003
  • Summary: (U2) MOUSA AL-KADHIM SHRINE, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 31, 2003) (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) 1. TV: THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE GATHERING IN SQUARE OUTSIDE MOSQUE FOR FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR SHI'ITE LEADER AL-HAKIM, KILLED IN CAR BOMB ATTACK IN NAJAF 0.04 2. GV: MOURNERS BEATING THEIR CHESTS, WOMEN DRESSED IN BLACK CARRYING BANNER, BEATING THEIR CHESTS (2 SHOTS) 0.16 3. LV/GV: MOURNERS CARRYING COFFIN OF AL-HAKIM, TAKING IT OUT OF SHRINE AND TOWARDS TRUCK AT START OF LONG DRIVE TO KERBALA AND NAJAF (3 SHOTS) 0.38 4. TV/LV: TRUCK CARRYING STALLED BY HUGE CROWD, HIGH VIEW OF CROWD (2 SHOTS) 0.56 5. TV/MV: COFFIN MOVING SLOWLY THROUGH CROWD, WOMEN BEATING THEIR HEADS (2 SHOTS) 1.05 6. MCU: SHI'ITE CLERIC AL-MUDARISI TAKING PART IN THE PROCESSION 1.13 7. TV: CROWD 1.20 (U3) BARATHA MOSQUE, UTAYFIYA, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 31, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. GV/TILT DOWN: BARATHA MOSQUE, PAN DOWN TO CROWD 1.24 9. GV: AHMED CHALABI, MEMBER OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL, ARRIVING WITH HIS BODYGUARDS 1.28 10. GV/MV: FUNERAL PROCESSION BY MOSQUE, CHALABI WATCHING (4 SHOTS) 1.55 11. MCU: MOHAMMED BAHR UL-ULOOM, WHO SUSPENDED HIS MEMBERSHIP IN THE GOVERNING COUNCIL IN PROTEST AT THE ASSASSINATION, ARRIVING AT THE MOSQUE 2.01 12. GV/PAN: FUNERAL PROCESSION MOVING ON, CLERICS AND OTHER DIGNITARIES ON TRUCK ALONG WITH COFFIN 2.13 (W7) KARBALA, IRAQ (AUGUST 31, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 13. GV/LV: MOSQUE; MOURNERS OUTSIDE THE MOSQUE; THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ON THE STREETS WITH PICTURES AND FLAGS (2 SHOTS) 2.25 14. LV/GV: FUNERAL PROCESSION WITH COFFIN; COFFIN ENTERING THE MOSQUE (9 SHOTS) 3.21 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOUSA AL-KADHIM AND BARATHA MOSQUE, UTAYFIYA, BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVACBOLLAPMDGPF6LCQDFRFFW3IQ
  • Story Text: Tens of thousands of mourners crowd streets for
    funeral procession of slain Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer
    al-Hakim in Baghdad and Karbala.



    Tens of thousands of mourners packed into northern
    Baghdad on Sunday (August 31) for the funeral procession of
    Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, a top Shi'ite Muslim
    cleric slain by a car bomb which also killed scores of his
    followers.

    Women dressed in black and some bare-chested men in
    mourning thronged the streets around the capital's
    golden-domed Mousa al-Kadhim mosque for the start of the
    funeral rites. They chanted and beat their chests as the
    coffin draped in a large black cloth was carried through
    the crowd and then placed on a truck, guarded by men with
    automatic rifles.

    Authorities said they could only find al-Hakim's hand,
    watch, wedding band and pen in the wreckage.

    The funeral procession will take Hakim's remains to
    sites revered by Shi'ite Muslims, ending on Tuesday for
    burial in the holy city of Najaf, where the cleric was
    killed on Friday in the deadliest attack since the war that
    ousted Saddam Hussein ended.

    Later on Sunday al-Hakim's coffin arrived in Karbala
    and again thousands of people flooded the streets to mourn.

    Hakim was one of the most influential voices among
    Iraq's Shi'ites, who make up about 60 percent of its 26
    million people.

    Hospital officials said on Saturday the death toll from
    the attack was at least 95, and could be much higher. Many
    more were wounded by the bomb, which exploded just after
    Friday prayers outside the Imam Ali mosque, one of the most
    sacred sites in Shi'ite Islam.

    Many Shi'ites have blamed the attack on diehard
    supporters of Saddam, who repressed the Shi'ites when he
    was in power. Some analysts have suggested Shi'ites opposed
    to Hakim's moderate political positions could be to blame.

    U.S. officials have said little about who they think
    carried out the bombing. But they have cited foreign
    Islamic extremists as possible suspects for similar attacks
    earlier this month which targeted the U.N. headquarters and
    the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad.

    The bombing has intensified an international debate
    about whether the occupation forces are capable of
    pacifying the country. Several Iraqi Shi'ite leaders have
    said the U.S. must shoulder some blame as occupying
    powers are responsible for ensuring security in a country
    under their rule, according to international law.

    Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum, a leading Shi'ite scholar, said
    he was suspending his membership of Iraq's U.S.-appointed
    Governing Council in protest at Hakim's assassination. He
    said in a statement that there was "a dangerous security
    void in Iraq, especially in Najaf".

    Iraq's U.S.-led interim administration says it faces a
    tough balancing act as it wants to provide security but
    does not want to offend Muslims by placing foreign troops
    near holy sites.
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